Spring/Summer
2007, Volume 23.3

Poetry

David Lee

David Lee is the author of thirteen books of
poetry, including A Legacy of Shadows: Selected Poems. He was named
Utah’s first Poet Laureate and is the recipient of the Utah Governor’s
Award for lifetime achievement in the arts. He has also been honored as one
of Utah’s top twelve writers of all time by the Utah Endowment for the
Humanities. Read
other work by David Lee published in Weber Studies: Vol.
5.1 (Poetry); Vol.
13.1 (Conversation); Vol.
13.1 (Poetry); Vol.
20.1 (Poetry); Vol.
24.3 (Poetry).

The bellow of lightning
freed from the mildewed
crevice of underworld
frames an out of place ocotillo
clawing the air like a forsworn proselyte
caught in the wind shear
between fact and opinion,
bloodied fingers sluing in freefall

* * *

The sudden break
moan as an eddy of wind
sieves through a sandstone breech
gurgle and croak of moving water

soft thunder
like draft horses
moving in night stalls

fat clouds, farrowed,
hover

The desert shimmers
with the glisten
of a spit shined enigma
unencumbered
from a loose pocket of night
balanced in the open palm
of a sure fulcrum